Major operation at Hambach Forest: Police search for alleged power saboteur Daniel V. via photograph
Police seek 48-year-old Daniel V. from Gevelsberg through photo release – major operation at Hambach Forest following discovery of twelve explosive devices in eastern Saxony.
Manhunt for alleged power saboteur widens
Police are publicly seeking a 48-year-old man from Gevelsberg via photograph, who is suspected of carrying out several attacks on German electricity infrastructure. According to welt.de, Cologne police simultaneously launched a major operation at Hambach Forest on Saturday. "The manhunt is ongoing," said a spokesperson for Cologne police in the morning. "We have received leads and we are pursuing them."
In a new wanted notice, Brandenburg police indicated that the suspect may be fleeing on a bicycle – specifically a black model of the brand Trenoli, type "Tazio Sportivo M", frame size 56 centimetres.
Motorhome searched, pyrotechnics seized
On Friday, special units of the North Rhine-Westphalian police discovered and searched a truck converted into a motorhome at a car park in Düren district. The vehicle is linked to the suspected author of two confessional letters. According to police, extensive evidence material was seized, including pyrotechnics.
According to taz, Daniel V. is reportedly a medical student in his late forties. Whether he ever practised remains unclear. A relative stated that she had not seen him for several weeks. Die Zeit reports that V. broke off contact with his family a long time ago. Neighbours told the Bild newspaper that he had always greeted them in a friendly manner, but had been a loner since childhood and had lived in isolation recently – at times in the truck being used as a motorhome. Neighbours knew nothing of employment, a partner or family. His father, an architect, died 15 years ago; his mother previously worked as a teacher.
Confessional letters: "climate terrorism" as motive
Two confessional letters were received by several media outlets, including the German Press Agency. In them, the suspect linked the attacks to criticism of fossil fuel energy production. "Electricity generation from fossil fuels is a crime," it states.
Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU) described the knowledge contained in the letters as "unmistakable evidence of guilt" and categorised the motive as very likely "climate terrorism" of a lone actor. NRW Interior Minister Herbert Reul (CDU) stated that anyone endangering the power supply to hospitals in the name of climate protection was saving nothing but endangering lives. "No ideology serves as an excuse," Reul emphasised.
Chronology of attacks
The series of attacks began on Tuesday morning in southern Brandenburg. According to information from dpa, more than 20 homemade rockets were used to direct conductive materials onto high-voltage power lines at Turnow-Preilack substation near Jänschwalde power station. In two cases, short circuits occurred; however, according to the grid operator, there was no power outage.
On the same evening, a malfunction occurred at a substation in Bergheim near Cologne. Five brown coal power plant units at the Niederaußem and Neurath sites went offline according to RWE Power; several were later restarted, with one not expected to return to the grid until the following week. According to the company, general power supply was not interrupted at any point.
On Thursday evening, a pedestrian discovered alleged launch devices at a substation in Dormagen between Cologne and Düsseldorf and alerted police. On Friday, police searched the area around Weisweiler power station near Aachen based on a lead from a confessional letter.
On Friday evening, a larger operation followed at a power facility in Hamm. Numerous police vehicles and a helicopter were deployed; a police spokesperson stated it was a former power facility that had been out of service for some time.
Twelve explosive devices discovered in eastern Saxony
A total of twelve explosive devices were also found in eastern Saxony in the area of high-voltage power lines. Security authorities stated that these were designed to "cause damage to electrical high-voltage lines through a short circuit". Investigators found devices south of Bärwalde substation near Lippen as well as east of Graustein substation near Schleife – both locations in the Lusatian lignite region near the border with Brandenburg.
Police and the Dresden Public Prosecutor's Office are examining a connection to the cases in Brandenburg and North Rhine-Westphalia. The operation in Saxony was triggered by "cross-agency information" as well as a report from an alert citizen.
Lignite regions in focus
Striking is the geographical proximity of all affected sites to active lignite mining areas. According to the industry association Debriv, there is currently active open-cast mining in North Rhine-Westphalia, in southern Brandenburg and Saxony-Anhalt, as well as in eastern and western Saxony. Police are investigating the power grid sabotage, among other things, on suspicion of forming a terrorist association.
Source: Google News DE — Crime (de)